Hex squinted in the high noon sunlight as he ran through the savannah. It felt a little weird to be running on two legs, but it felt a whole lot weirder to be in a human body. To his left, he saw a golden springbok. He matched its speed till it turned towards some undergrowth. Ahead he could see the edge of a cliff.
He decided to leap off it, to feel the rush of falling. He was about to give a wild scream when Wraith's voice boomed all around him as if he were a God.
"Ok that's enough now Hex, I'm not sure how long you're supposed to use it for."
Everything then smudged like a water colour painting, blinked and went into reset mode. "PLEASE PLAY AGAIN SOON" was all Hex could now see in front of him. He shook the helmet off his head and said:
"Now that is one cool birthday present, thank you Wraith."
Wraith took the helm and replaced it back in the sleek box it came in. "I have a friend who owes me a favour. He had a nasty terror-bite demon playing havoc with his hard drive a couple of months back, anyway he says it's just a basic copy and paste of a savannah, not a game but it's as real as it gets. Something like this isn't on the market any time soon."
Hex gave a bark of approval. "I shall play it every day. Sure as hell beats the park on a winter's night." Hex ears then suddenly picked up.
"What's up?" Wraith said.
"It's my birthday today, right? I'm 103 years old, right?"
"You want to go to the park, don't you?" Wraith guessed correctly as he reached for his coat.
Hex, for all is intelligence, still held the soul of a dog. He raced to the front door and said:
"It's dark enough, no one can see me."
Hyde Park was silent and dark as Hex jumped over dead trees, rummaged through bushes and sniffed every tree there was or at least that's what Wraith thought.
Wraith decided to sit down for a bit as Hex didn't seem like stopping anytime soon. He found a picnic bench and watched him for a bit before his thoughts drifted off to the devil and debt. It felt to him like they were made out of the same stuff.
He didn't know what to do. He simply wasn't earning enough to keep afloat and the thought of hell boiling away below sent him almost into a panic attack. He rubbed his eyes hard and instinctively looked up at what was staring at him.
It was Hex, for a moment there was only the sound of the wind between them before Hex came trotting over and said:
"I guess this is the moment we have a heart to heart about why you look so dreadful."
Wraith burst into tears before wiping his eyes with an odd laugh. "I guess it is." He said.